


Secret Santa

by Fangirlingallnightlong24



Category: The Rookie (TV 2018)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Christmas Party, Christmas Shopping, Declarations Of Love, Eventual Relationships, Feelings Realization, Fluff, Secret Santa
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-15 10:55:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28562403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fangirlingallnightlong24/pseuds/Fangirlingallnightlong24
Summary: "What if she got me?" He thought to himself.  "What if he got me?" Lucy thought to herself with a smile. The Rookies and TO's are doing a Secret Santa gift exchange
Relationships: Tim Bradford & Lucy Chen, Tim Bradford/Lucy Chen
Comments: 11
Kudos: 44





	1. Chapter 1

"I need Lopez, Bradford, Harper, Nolan, West, and Chen to stay here after dismissal, everyone else can go. With that being said the six of you may talk amongst yourselves until I finish getting the rest of Mid-Wilshire's police force out of the room." Grey explained to them at the end of roll call. The rookies moved over to the table directly in front of their TOs and turned the chairs around to face the training officers at the table behind them. "I wonder why Grey kept us back." Jackson spoke up. "Probably something to do with our assignments for the day." Nolan speculated. "It could be, but I doubt it. More than likely it's something to do with an arrest one of us has made." Bradford said in his TO voice. Lucy looked at Tim with one eyebrow raised pointedly. "Are you okay Tim?" "I'm fine Boot. Just a little tired. You got any idea why Grey kept us back Boot?" He asked her obviously trying to change the subject. She decided she would let it slide for now. "Maybe he's going to tell us what we're supposed to be bringing to the Christmas Party at the end of the week. Sir." "Really Boot? Oh my God! You're one of those people who is obsessed with Christmas aren't you?" "Would it piss you off if I said yes?" "No, I think it's kind of cute and now I'm going to make you wear an elf costume to work one day this week. Pointy ears and all." He smirked. "How about I swing by to see Kojo in an elf costume one day after work this week instead? I'll even bring you some homemade hand decorated Christmas cookies too." "I guess that'll work Boot. Those cookies and that costume better be good though." "Trust me they will be. We'll discuss this further in the shop." "Home Alone or Christmas Vacation?" Nolan questioned her. "And why is the carpet all wet Todd?" she answered. "I don't know Margo." Tim finished with a grin. "She's a beaut Clark." Nolan added. "Grace? She died thirty years ago." West chimed in. "And when Santa squeezes his fat ass down that chimney tonight, he's gonna find the jolliest bunch of assholes this side of the nuthouse." Lopez joined in. Nyla sighed. "Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Kiss my ass. Kiss his ass. Kiss your ass. Happy Hanukkah." "Shitter's full." They all looked up to see Grey on his way over after hearing his quote. "Alright, our resident elf here got it right. The reason I kept you back is because I need to talk to you all about the Christmas party on Friday. Since you six have become such a tight knit group, I wanted to do something special for you this year," Grey cleared his throat and revealed two paper bowls from the breakroom with slips of paper in them. One was labeled Boots and the other TOs. "You guys get to do a secret Santa gift exchange this year, the thing is though, the rookies will be picking names out of the training officer bowl and the training officers will be picking names out of the Rookies bowl. You will be responsible for getting a gift for your rookie or TO and wrapping it up and getting it to them without the person you got the gift for finding out who their Secret Santa was. On Friday at the party you will open your gifts and try to guess who your Secret Santa was and all will be revealed." "Yay! This is going to be so much fun!" Lucy squealed. Earning a glare from her TO. "Lucy, since you are so excited you can pick a training officer first." Grey told her. She reached in and pulled a slip of paper out of the bowl and walked out of the room to see who she got. 


	2. The LAPD's resident Elf

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy's POV

I walked out of the room and unfolded the slip of paper I pulled out. The name Tim Bradford filled the entirety of the slip of paper. I knew I didn't want it to be something too personal that he would recognize so I guess I'm giving him two gifts, one I plan on giving to him after the party and the secret Santa gift. I knew as I walked back into the room where everybody else still remained that I was smiling like an idiot. I watched as Tim pulled a slip of paper out of the rookies bowl and realized my name could be on that small piece of paper he was holding. He walked out of the room and smiled directly at me right before he walked out the door. I sighed and everybody but Grey looked at me with a smirk on their faces. Tim walked in with no facial expression present on his features, probably trying not to give anything away. Everybody else picked and we were finally dismissed. When I stood up Lopez intercepted me before I could get any farther. "I'm not blind and I'm not dumb, Boot and neither is anyone else, Nolan is just naive. We see the way you look at Tim, Lucy. Now I understand where Bishop was coming from when she told you, you needed to break up with Nolan and you did need to break it off with him, but Bishop was not a good training officer when it came down to it. The way you balance Bradford out is honestly so perfect. Not only that but you got him to open up to you and you helped him break down those walls that he put up after what Isabel put him through and you managed to get him to trust again. I have been friends with him for almost 4 years and I haven't been able to help him with even one of those things and you helped him with all three in less than a year. He may trust me when it comes to some things Boot, but he doesn't trust anyone as much as he trusts you. He's gonna kill me for telling you this, but when he found out you were taken it was like his whole world was crumbling down around him. I don't think he would have been able to live with himself if you had died because he couldn't find you in time. After you graduate when we are all at the bar celebrating, tell him how you feel." I was left flabbergasted as she walked away. I scurried to the garage and got into the shop where Tim was waiting for me. “I know this is going to be an odd favor to ask of you but, Jackson is spending Christmas Eve and Day with Sterling’s family and I can’t take another lecture from my parents right now. Would it be okay if I came over and spent Christmas Eve and Day with you and Kojo?” “Boot, you don’t even have to leave tomorrow night when you come to visit Kojo in your elf costume but you have to help me decorate because I haven’t really celebrated Christmas at my house since Isabel left and took all of my decorations with her. I don’t even have a tree. Just a box of ornaments that are mine and a Ram’s wreath that I usually put on my front door.” “You, me Christmas decoration shopping. After work.” “Yes ma’am.” I glared at him. “Maybe I should stay over tonight too. I mean we have to watch Christmas Vacation after we put the tree up and decorate it.” I grinned. “I want an early gift if I’m going to have to put up with you for the rest of the week.” He smiled at me. “7-Adam-19 you have a domestic disturbance call....”


	3. Tiny Tim (I highly doubt any part of him is tiny though)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tim’s POV

Lucy walked back in grinning like an idiot. I grabbed a slip of paper and walked past her and out of the room. When I unfolded the slip of paper the name “Lucy Chen” jumped out at me. I forced myself to remain expressionless so as not to give anything away. It felt like hours waiting on everyone else to pick. When Grey finally dismissed us Angela went straight for Lucy and I just went to our shop. My mind wandered back to her name on that piece of paper and I sighed softly. “How is it that I know so much about her but I’m still struggling to come up with a gift to get her?” I thought to myself. Then another thought hit me, “What if she got me?” I opened up my phone to find a text from an unknown number. “Officer Bradford, I’ve been watching you and that pretty little Boot of yours. I want her. You better start investigating me before I take your precious Lucy.” We had just discussed her coming over and spending Christmas with me when I got the text. I must have gone pale when I thought I was going to see the coffee and protein bar I had for breakfast again because she noticed. “Tim, what’s wrong?” “Boot, I’ll explain when we get back to the station but for now I just need you to trust me on this. Your life is in danger.” “What?!” “Read the text.” She paled when she read the text and all of a sudden out of no where she started wheezing and crying. “Shit, I thought, she’s having a panic attack.” “Luce, I’m here. You’re okay. I’m right here.” She visibly relaxed before the tear started to roll. “Hey Boot, I won’t let this son of a bitch get you. I promise.” I said soothingly. “Oh God Tim! He’s sending another text.” My phone made a noise as another text came in. “Hello Boot! I can’t wait to meet you. Show you what you’re missing out on while you’re falling for your training officer. Dreaming about him. Talking about him in your sleep. Lucky Bastard! Too bad nothing can happen because he’s your superior. By the way, the gift you got him, is so sweet. Now why do you sleep in Officer Bradford’s old T-shirt every night?” She looked terrified. “He’s been watching me sleep.” I had just pulled back into the garage and parked. “Let me see it.” She handed me my phone back and I had to swallow the rising bile in the back of my throat. “Lucy, come on. We need to go tell Grey now.” She got out of the car and I gestured to her to come over to where I was. She stood right in front of me and I could see that she was crying silently. “Hey, I said softly as I wiped her tears away with my thumb, I won’t let him get to you. I promise. Neither will any of the rest of them. It’ll be okay.” I wrapped my arms around her and hesitantly rubbed her back soothingly. “You know crying is what he wants you to do he wants you to be terrified. I think you should focus on catching this bastard because you are strong and you can’t let this guy get into your head.” “He already is in my head Tim.” “I’ll give you something else to think about then. I’m falling for you too Boot. Rachel broke up with me because she saw it before I did. The night you graduate, you and I are gonna go out to dinner and you can talk for as long as you want, I’ll tell you more about my personal life, and we’ll laugh and cry and talk all night and when I take you home, I’m going to kiss you senseless and we are going to cuddle and watch a movie and fall asleep on the couch together. I promise.” She smiled that bright gorgeous smile and I kissed her forehead. “Thank you. You are amazing!” “I know.” I replied teasingly. "Did you know you're my favorite person in the whole world?" "No, I didn't. What about Jackson or Rachel?" "Rachel? Ha! Last time I saw her she blamed me for your break up. I blocked her number on my phone after she called me, just to bitch and call me a boyfriend stealing whore. Jackson's like my 3rd favorite person." She told me. "You know what she said isn't true right?" I asked her. "Dude, I didn't even know you two had broken up when she called me, but I do know that I'm not a boyfriend stealing whore because she and I signed a contract our freshman year of college that is obviously now null and void that stated that we would no longer be friends if one of us purposely helped the other's boyfriend cheat on her or stole the other's boyfriend for ourselves. Turns out she slept with most of my boyfriends all the way through college. I never once broke the rule we agreed to in the contract we signed. You want to know what really sucks for her?" "Yes give me all the juicy details!" I said dramatically just to be silly. "I got you and she didn't." She bit her lip with a cute little grin. I chuckled. "Very true."


	4. Angels Among Us

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy’s POV

I walked into the station, Tim’s hand resting on the small of my back. We walked straight to Grey’s office and Tim knocked on the door carefully since it was made of glass. Grey beckoned us in with a confused look. “Hey you guys already book someone?” “No sir. I’m receiving texts from an unknown number that are threatening and disturbing and creepy and directed towards me but he’s been watching Lucy sleep and the first one said I had better start investigating if I want a chance of stopping him from taking Lucy. I think he’s stalking her and I wonder if we put on a show for him while Lucy’s supposed to be sleeping if it would piss him off so much it would draw him out. Sir.” “Can I see the texts Officer Bradford?” “Yes sir but if another one starts to come through that means he knows you have the phone.” “How? Did he hack into the body and dash cam system or the phone? Lucy have you mentioned to anyone that you sleep in his old T-shirt he gave you after you got out of the hospital after being buried alive? Did ever fall asleep here at the station? Are you in love with Tim?” “Oh. I remember it had accidentally fallen out of my duffel and Angela had noticed and recognized the T-shirt and asked me how long we had been together and I told her we weren’t and that I can’t sleep at night unless I have it on. I did fall asleep in the roll call room after Tim had been shot and I was waiting on any news about his condition and I fell asleep for maybe an hour. I am but we’re not together yet. We are waiting until I graduate. So who wins the bet?” “Tim does.” Grey and I both looked at him and he was grinning. “What you can’t say I’m not prepared. I used West as a bookie so I could get in on it. Now what about this creeper?” “I don’t think he’s in Lucy’s house. I think he works in the station -." He looked up and saw the sun glint off the metal of the muzzle of the gun. “Everyone get down! Now!” Tim didn’t catch on and the gun was pointed at his head and the man was about to pull the trigger. Grey jumped over his desk and on top of both officers just as a gunshot rang out through the station. Just as the man came into his office Grey grabbed his cuffs and cuffed me and Tim together and pulled out his gun and instructed us to hide behind his desk. We were behind Grey’s desk when we heard “Where are you Lucy? Are you hiding from me? Come on out.” “Grey must be playing dead.” I whispered softly so that only Tim could hear me. He reached over and turned my radio off and then his before putting our phones on silence and do not disturb. He sent Angela and Nyla texts telling them what was happening and to get back to the station immediately and not to text back. I could see the man’s legs and ankles and feet as he walked around the desk so I grabbed my taser and Tim grabbed his gun. As soon as he bent down I tased him in the chest and incapacitated him for long enough to cuff him and notice the second man standing over Grey with a gun pointed at his head. I carefully managed to point my taser at the man without him noticing and when he pointed the gun away from Grey, I tased him. He went down and the gun clattered against the floor. Tim cuffed him and I grabbed their guns and put them on Grey’s desk. My worst fear came to life at that moment when a third man came running in. With a gun aimed at Tim’s head. “Tim!” I screamed and jumped on top of him as the gun went off sending a bullet into my shoulder. I grabbed Tim’s gun, the adrenaline keeping the pain at bay long enough to point the gun and fire a bullet into the third man’s head. Killing him instantly. Angela, Nyla, West, and Nolan came running in. “Lucy, why did you do that? They found Tim holding pressure my gunshot wound that was bleeding profusely. Someone fucking call for an ambulance and take these two to booking and someone else call the morgue for the guy with the bullet in his head.” “Tim, I’m sorry.” “For what Luce? You were shot in the shoulder saving my life. You have nothing to apologize for, if anything I should be apologizing.” “For what? Doing your job?” “No this.” He lowered his forehead until it was touching mine and gently pressed his lips to mine. The fireworks were unmistakable. He broke apart and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, before kissing me again. “I’m sorry Tim. I’m so sorry.” I could feel the tears falling. I could feel him pick me up bridal style and carry me somewhere. I was in and out of consciousness in the ambulance and they took me straight into surgery when we arrived. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I’m over the moon happy at all the love this fic has recieved and wanted to thank you all for making me smile everytime I get an email notifying me of new comments or kudos. I’m working on two other fics at the moment and my second semester of college is starting on Monday so I will do my best to continue to update twice a day but if I don’t update one day I won’t leave you all hanging for too long. Promise. Now tell me this what do you guys think of Wendell Bray from Bones and Alexis Castle from well Castle as a couple in the Castle Universe? And Booth and Kate having been best friends since they were kids? Should I transcribe it onto here from my notebook? I can’t seem to find any crossover that has them paired together and it’s really cute. Anyway... Hope you loved the new chapter. Second update of the day won’t be long now. Xoxo  
> \- Rylee


	5. New Family

Lucy was getting out of the hospital today after recovering from the bullet wound she got. I straightened my white beard and hat and got into my truck. I hope she knows I don’t do this for just anyone. I rolled my window down and waved back to the kids in cars who waved at me. I pulled into the hospital parking lot and found a spot. I got out and walked in. “You’re not the Santa that usually comes for the kids but you’ll do.” ”I’m not here for the kids but I’d be happy to help you out since your usual Santa was being booked when I left the station earlier.” “Oh you’re a life saver! Thank you so much.” “Can I ask you for a favor?” “Depends. On what it is.” “Oh no I’m a cop ma’am. I was just going to ask if you could bring my partner Lucy Chen to the Children’s ward.” “You got it. There is a plastic tote filled with wrapped gifts for each kid and each gift has the name of the kid the gift goes to on a label. If you have a gift for Officer Chen feel free to grab a label and slap it on there. You can put the gifts under the tree while you’re waiting for the all of the kids to arrive. One of our volunteers will hand them out and help you pronounce their names." "Thank you. I also kept meaning to donate to the children’s ward and because I realized I was going to keep forgetting I decided that instead of donating a check, I would do something that means something to these kids. My rookie Lucy Chen and I created a program that we had to have the mayor’s permission to put it in motion because it’s brand new and the only one of it’s kind. It’s called the Mini Police Academy. We built three interactive kid sized police cars that not only have working sirens but parts of old retired police cars that play either a recording of me or Lucy saying things like “7-Adam-19 responding” or “Roger That” or “Cop Eyes Boot” or “Let’s go Boot” or “Great Job Boot” or “Nice Job Boot”. We need some volunteers to handout information packets, consent forms, and registration forms to parents while we explain it after Santa leaves and Officer’s Bradford and Chen return.” The interactive police cars will be installed in the unfurnished area of the playroom. Are there any kids allergic to dogs?” “None that are so allergic they can’t be around them.” “Great because at some point we’ll bring in one of our K-9 officers for visit. But because they won’t be able to pet the K-9 Officer, Chen will be bringing in our dog for them to pet and cuddle with. He’s an emotional support dog and has just been certified as a therapy dog. His name is Kojo.” “Awesome.” “Also when they graduate they get their own police uniform and badge, and walkie talkies that are all on the same channel so they can speak to each other from their rooms. Oh and the best part, they get ride on police cars with working lights and sirens they can ride through the halls in.” “Officer Bradford, you are a great guy. Oh and here are our volunteers.” “Tamara?” “Officer Bradford?” “How are you doing?” “I’m doing good. I’m in college now. Living in a dorm at UCLA.” “That’s great. Lucy will be very happy to see you, you know.” “Tamara?” “Hey Officer Chen, I’m in college now. Living in a dorm room at UCLA.” “I’m so proud of you T. Oh my God! Is that Tim?” “Boot I did this for you but their regular Santa was being booked when I left this morning so I offered to do it.” “You big softie. You tell them about the program?” “The administration does and so do the nurses.” “They discharged me and told me to come down here with you.” “That’s great I got some of your stuff from your place and took it to mine so we could go straight there when you got out.” “Thank you so much.” She stood on her tippy toes and placed a kiss on my cheek. “Hey Officer Smokeshow, you wanna go out sometime? I’m very flexible.” The blonde haired Barbie smirked. “I have a girlfriend and you are 20 years younger than me.” The other volunteers looked pissed at her. “We are supposed to be helping the kids Marissa! Not hitting on 42 year old police officers who are in a relationship with another police officer. If you want to do that get a job taking your clothes off for a living.” “Whatever Penelope.” “You can go to geriatrics and help clean bed pans Marissa.” The volunteer coordinator said sternly. “I have a task for you, Tamara, that is probably going to be really fun. I want you to go up to the maternity ward and knock on doors and ask them if they want to have their newborn get a picture taken with Santa. If they say yes write their room number down and tell them when Santa gets done handing out gifts to the kids in the Children’s ward, Santa’s helper, aka Lucy, will be coming around and taking families down for pictures one by one. What they don’t know is I bought tiny Santa hats and pjs for all the newborns and little decorations for the babies in the NICU, for the Christmas nursery pictures and a pair of squeaker shoes for each family.” I told her. “Elliott, will you hand me the gifts for each kid?” “I’d love to Officer Bradford. I was wondering if we could talk about the academy before you leave.” “Of course. Just stop me or Lucy and we’ll come and chat.” I said with a smile. Lucy pulled me aside and pressed her lips to mine softly. “Go get em Santa.” She kissed me again before walking out there to talk about the program. I went upstairs to take pictures with the newborns. 15 minutes later I walked out to cheers and squeals. “Hey kiddos!” “Hi Santa!” The kids all said. “You guys have been so good this year that Santa brought you some presents. Elliott is going to hand me your gift and when I say your name you can come up and sit on my lap and tell me what you want me to bring you on Christmas and then you can take your gift.” They all cheered and one by one they all came up and told me what they wanted and got their gifts. I had just called the name of a little blonde headed blue eyed girl who was extremely shy. “What’s your name?” “Rylie. I’m 4.” “What do you want for Christmas Miss Rylie?” “A family.” “Don’t you have one of your own pretty girl?” “No, my case wowker comes and watches me for a while evewy day. My mommy and daddy died last year and my aunt sent me back because she didn’t want me no more. I had to have my appendix taken out and I’ve been here since last week.” “I think I might be able to get you a family Rylie. What’s your last name pretty girl?” “Bwadfowd.” “Do you have an uncle or big brother that you never met?” “Yeah a uncle. His name is Tim. Do you know him?” “I do and I’m going to find him for you okay?” “Thank you Santa.” She kissed me on the cheek. “You see my friend Lucy with the pretty brown hair and the sling on her arm?” “Yeah." "Can you go give her a big hug and sit with her?” “Sure.” “Here’s your present Ryles.” She took it and skipped over to Lucy and gave her a hug and sat down in her lap. She smiled and that was when I knew that this little girl, my niece, needed me and Lucy and we were going to be her family. She had been the last one and I took Lucy’s present from Elliott and called Lucy’s name. She stood up and picked Rylie up with her good arm and balanced her on her hip. “Hi Lucy, what do you want for Christmas?” “Hmm. I want a locket. With a picture of me and my partner inside it.” “Anything else?” “A pretty dress.” “I’ll see what I can do then Lucy. Here’s your gift.” “I whispered in her ear, “We need to talk about her afterwards.” She leaned in and whispered back “Okay, I can’t wait to see what you got me.” She stood up off lap and took her gift gift from me. “It’s time for Santa to go see some other kids now. You keep being good boys and girls and Santa will see you soon.” “Bye Santa.” They all cheered. I left and walked into the empty hospital room they let me use and changed into my street clothes before calling social services. “Hi, I’m calling about a little girl named Rylie Bradford. I’m her uncle Officer Tim Bradford and I found out that her case worker neglected to contact me because I would have taken her in a heartbeat.” “Sir, how do you know about Miss Bradford?” “I stepped in to be Santa for the kids at the hospital’s Visit with Santa and she’s in the hospital recovering from having an appendectomy. She told me she wanted a family for Christmas and I would like to adopt her or take her since I am a relative that wants her.” “I’ll send her case worker to the hospital to talk to you. Do you have a girlfriend or wife that is willing to mother the child?” “Yeah Officer Lucy Chen. We already co-parent her dog. Which is an emotional support dog and therapy dog that loves kids. He is very gentle and he protects the kids at the park. A group of kids was playing and a huge dog came out of nowhere and tried to attack the kids but Kojo stood in front of the kids and barked until their parents noticed and grabbed them and I had to clear the playground out and call animal control who caught the dog. I mean he’s the dog of two police officers he was trained to serve and protect.” “Alright, Rachel should be there any minute.” “Thank you.” I sighed angrily. I walked out to find Lucy sitting in a chair wearing the locket I got her with Rylie in her lap asleep. The Baby Alive Doll she got for her gift was sticking out of Lucy’s bag. I sat down next to them. “Tim, she told me she asked for a family. I can’t leave her here all alone on Christmas. We could take her. We could be her family.” “Luce, she’s my niece. Her social worker neglected to call me and ask me if I would take her so I called social services and they are sending Rachel over to give me the papers to sign. We are taking her home because she’s going to be ours.” “Tim?” “Yeah hey Rachel. Thanks for asking me if I’d like to take my niece in.” I said sarcastically. “Guys, Ry is sleeping.” “Sorry Luce.” I kissed her forehead and turned to Rachel. “May I have the papers to sign?” “Yeah. There you go. You need to sign too Lucy.” “I know.” Lucy said. She scribbled her signature on each line quickly and handed the pen back to Rachel. “Lucy will you come out to my car and help me with Rylie’s things?” “Sure. Tim can you take Ry?” “Of course.” I gently lifted her off of Lucy and into my arms. Lucy got up and left with Rachel. 


	6. I did what now?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy's POV

I followed Rachel to her vehicle and I knew something was about to go down. "You want to tell me why you asked me to help you and not Tim who wasn't just shot two days ago?” “I wanted to talk to you Lucy.” “Why?” “I want to apologize for calling you a boyfriend stealing whore. I was upset because Tim and I broke up because I saw the way he looks at you. He never looked at me that way and I just wanted him to be happy because he obviously wasn’t happy when he was with me. I’m sorry about college too. Most of those stories weren’t true and I have proof. Whenever most of those stories supposedly took place I was in the children’s ward of the University hospital visiting with the kids but one little boy in particular never had a single visitor because he was in the system. I sat with him and we colored and talked and played in the playroom together and I would read to him every night before I left to put him to sleep because one of the very few memories he had of his biological mom and dad was of them reading to him every night before bed. They died in a car crash when he was five. He was nine then. I spent all my time with that sweet little boy and that was when I realized that I wanted to be a social worker.” She explained. “I’m sorry Rach. I never believed any of those stories anyway because I know you don’t sleep around. Do you know what happened to the little boy?” “Miss Rachel?” A male voice said from behind us. “Yeah I do. Lucy meet Spencer Garrett, the little boy I read to every night at the University hospital.” She had a huge grin on her face and I turned around to find a 17 year old boy grinning back at her. “Nice to meet you Lucy. I can’t believe it. Miss Rachel-“ “Call me Rachel Spence.” “Rachel, you’re a social worker?” “I am, and it’s all because of the sweet little nine year old boy who didn’t have a family that I read to every night.” “You’re the best Rachel.” “How are you doing? Did you finally get a new family?” “ Three actually. The first one was abusive and I had to report them myself. The second one neglected all of their children and a neighbor knocked on the door two days after they left and never came back and I answered it and told them what happened and they called Social Services. The one that adopted me has two little girls who are the sweetest and most lovable little girls you’ll ever meet. One is two and the other is four and they get into all kinds of trouble together. I got legally emancipated when I turned 16 because literally not even two months before I turned 16 our parents were killed by some druggie and I didn’t want my sisters going into the system so I went to the courthouse not even two days after it happened and filed the paperwork to become a legally emancipated minor and the girl’s legal guardian. I got legally emancipated on my birthday along with custody of the girls.” “Where are they?” “Must still be inside talking to a little girl and her father.” “That’s Tim and Rylie Bradford. Tim is my boyfriend and Rylie is our adopted daughter well actually I guess she’s technically Tim’s niece but she doesn’t know that yet.” “My girls would love to have a play date with Rylie sometime. I’ll give you my number and you can text me a date and time that works best for you and we’ll go from there. I do have to get going though. I have to take those two shopping for Christmas outfits and Christmas gifts.” He told me as Tim walked out with Rylie on his shoulders, another little girl on his back and the smallest girl on his hip and all of our stuff too. “Tim, you met Spence earlier?” “Yeah I did how do you know him?” “When I was in college and supposedly sleeping all the time, I was really at the University hospital Children’s Ward hanging out with him all day because he had no visitors because he was in the system. He was nine then. Now he’s seventeen and legally emancipated as well those two cuties legal guardian.” “She wanted to apologize for calling me that bad name. That’s why she asked the recently injured person to help her with Rylie’s things.” I explained to him. “Well Eliza, Fiona, we need to go Christmas shopping. So we best get going before it gets any later.” “Okay Spence.” Tim popped a squat and put the two little girls down, when he stood back up he turned to me. “We need to go Christmas shopping and Rylie shopping too. I know we said we were going to wait until tomorrow to do all the shopping but I think we should go ahead and get it done.” “I mean it’s only 11 and we have the entire day ahead of us. That sounds like a plan. Rach, you wanna come with and get a gift for Spence and the girls?” “I have to get back to work so not today but I’ll go tomorrow. You guys are doing Secret Santa at Mid-Wilshire this year right?” “Yup. That’s why we need to go shopping today. That and Rylie needs a bed to sleep in.” “Have fun. See ya Ryles.” “See ya Miss Rachel.” Rachel carried Rylie’s stuff over to Tim’s truck and put it in the back with the rest of our stuff before going back to her car and taking off.   



End file.
